37. Recycling was a big business, and kids got paid for collecting litter
The GDR lacked raw materials, and so had a very sophisticated recycling system. The SED encouraged children to become ‘Young Pioneers’, and collect bottles, scrap metal, and paper. The Young Pioneers could exchange their hauls for money at recycling centers. The GDR used the exchanged items to make everything from cars to clothes. This had an unexpected environmental impact, and also encouraged children to act communally, simultaneously developing a socialist outlook. However, money seems to have been the chief motivation. When the payment system in 1990 after the Reunification of Germany, the intake of scavenged materials dropped 90%!